Meet the Kester Disability Rights Team
Here is the KDR Team who will work to win your case should we be able to take it on and if you want us to take it on!
Jade
Jade is the Director’s Personal Assistant. After completing a bachelor’s degree in Law at Cardiff University, Jade found her passion in protecting the rights of disabled people. She joined the team in 2019 in order to pursue this mission. Jade was diagnosed with arthritis and fibromyalgia in 2014, providing her with an invaluable first-hand insight into the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) process and disability discrimination. She is also currently a student coordinator for Hidden Abilities, an organisation who aim to remove disability barriers. In her free time, Jade founded the ‘Helping Hands’ project to provide food and winter essentials for the homeless community of Cardiff. A brilliant cause which Kester Disability Rights has donated to for the past three years.
Josie
Josie is our Disability Rights Administrator. She has grown up with a brother with autism and has worked as a 1:1 in a pre-school supporting a special needs child. She has regularly been a personal assistant to both children and adults with special needs and has devoted her career to supporting those with disabilities. Josie excelled at school achieving A levels and has a Level 3 Diploma in Child Care.
Kester
Kester is the Director of the Company. It’s named after him because it was only him to start with! Kester’s background is mainly charity work. He is a former caseworker, manager, trainer and trustee for the Citizens Advice service. He also worked for three MPs. Before setting up KDR he was the social security Appeals and Disputes Manager at a national disability charity. Kester saw the problems in the charity advice sector and set up KDR as the solution. He gave up much better-paid positions to do so. You can find out more about him on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kester-dean-94394bb6
Zoe
Zoe is a Disability Rights Adviser. She is a deaf professional fluent in BSL and parent to a fabulous young man with Autism. Her areas of specialist knowledge are in both Autism and Deafness. Zoe's career has been in social services working in deaf adult services and becoming a manager for front-line services with a National Charity. But she gave up this well-paid work to do even more for disabled people, including working for KDR. She has also done lots of voluntary work including being a Critical Incident Adviser for Kent Police, advising on Deafness and Autism. Zoe also set up a deaf community with over 1200 members managing monthly meetings for over 10 years and was a Secondary School parent Governor. Zoe's interests involve creating unique stained glass sun-catchers and many art-related activities.